Hampshire police commissioner cautious over legal high ban
The new blanket ban on legal high drugs – due to come into effect next week – has been only cautiously welcomed by the police and crime commissioner in Hampshire.
The new legislation, entitled the Psychoactive Substances Act, is due to be implemented on Wednesday 6th April. The new law will make it illegal to manufacture, supply or offer to supply, import or export new psychoactive substances (NPS) in the United Kingdom. Breaking the law could result in a prison sentence of up to seven years.
In Hampshire alone, 403 separate incidents involving legal high drugs were recorded by the police in 2015. This represents a rise from 340 incidents recorded in 2012. Simon Hayes, the Hampshire police and crime commissioner, welcomes the arrival of a law that seeks to tackle the problem, but is sceptical as to whether it can be put into practice effectively.
He commented: “Anything that makes it difficult for those manufacturing, transporting or selling mind-altering substances, and therefore reduces the numbers of people consuming them, has to be a good thing. For this reason I welcome the Psychoactive Substances Act coming into force; however I do express a level of caution in doing so. The Psychoactive Substances Act is a complicated piece of legislation and nationally uncertainties have been expressed around how enforceable it is in practice.”
He also expressed a hope that the new law would discourage suppliers of current legal highs from developing new substances.